57 replies to this topic

[roboant]

Hello, I have some questions for Torque 3D owners.

- any idea when they will release the final version?
- how good is new Torque 3D? I know an old version of Torque, maybe 1.2 or something, and I remember wasn't so tempting
- any comments about that new engine? Please share all experience you have with, I am thinking to buy it.

Thank you.

[Jaimi]

Hi Roboant.

1. Not sure, but I would guess somewhere in the next 2-6 weeks.
2. It's way better than TGE. Looks better, and runs faster, and is way easier to use.
3. If you've tried it before, and weren't so happy, I would suggest now is the time to try it again. There are new world editors, and even *gasp* documentation. The stuff is all much nicer now - easier to use in the editor. For example:
Rivers - Just drop down a river, and plot it with points. The river will be created and follow it.
Roads - same thing.
Materials - you can select objects, and edit their materials on the fly - add normal maps, animate them, etc.

Of course, it's still in beta right now, so there are still some bugs. I am sure they are ironing them out, this is a very important release for them. I've used it, and the advanced lighting is very nice. And for those cards without the ability to do the advanced lighting, you can fallback to "basic" lighting, which is better than the old TGE lighting used to be.

[Mickelonis]

1. I have no idea... The beta's are going great, I'm personally glad they are taking their time to get it right. The beta forums have been filled with great information and the dev's have been keeping communication with the consumers. I feel the communication is great!


2. I think this link does justice to the question you have.... Scroll all the way down. http://www.garagegam...ducts/torque-3d

3. My personal experiences with T3D has been good. It's pretty damn stable, that's the first thing that comes to mind.

-Pete

you can email me to talk more if you want, mickelonis (at) gmail (dot) com

[OmegaDog]

1. "When its done!" j/k Sounds familiar though!
2. See #3!
3. its Off The Chain -> 53 YouTube Videos(Just recently made the playlist)
http://www.youtube.c...239D50DB1ACA79C

More videos on Vimeo Channel->Search Torque3D


So much more support with apps like Ecstasy(MoCap Tools), GMK(GAME MECHANICS), Verve(Cinematic Tools)

http://www.garagegam...logs/view/17485
http://www.garagegam...amemechanicskit
http://www.garagegam.../products/verve

[~LK~]

1) I believe Jaimi's guess is fairly accurate.

2) T3D doesn't really resemble TGE in my opinion. To be honest, I don't think any other engine in it's class can hold a candle to T3D, and I have licensed afew. T3D has been the best investment I have made to date.

3) GG has expanded, which has greatly benefited their tech and community support. The result is the new engine, which you can see vid's (posted above) that can show you aspects of the engine from various stages in Beta. Without trying to sound like a fanboy (which I'm not exactly known for).. T3D is amazing; you won't be disappointed.

Good Luck!

[alphadog]

Why are all but LK's posts from first-posters who all subscribed on almost the same day for only this post?

Something smells fishy here...

[Torqueuser]

@alphadog
This forum thread was pointed out on the Torque3D forums. Torque users came over here to help spread the word and help out with the question asked by the original poster here: "Hello, I have some questions for Torque 3D owners."
Simple as that.

And the only thing I might point out that might be a little misleading from the above comments from T3D users is this from Jaimi: "There [ is ] even *gasp* documentation."

The documentation at this point consists mostly of WIP and placeholder pages but it is in Beta just like the engine and is promised to be more complete as the engine moves out of beta. As the person in charge of the docs points out, it is hard to keep up with accurate documentation on something that is constantly changing.

I can also assure you that I recognize the users who have posted here so far and they 'are' users and not garagegame staff.

[roboant]

Thanks for all reply to my questions.

I want to say I am honest, I am not GarageGames staff member, I just wanted to know more info about Torque 3D because as I said, I intention to buy it and I was thinking asking here will be good, considering that site neutral.

Any other opinions are still welcome.

Thank you.

[alphadog]

@Torqueuser: Glad for the feedback then.

@roboant: Would not have suspected you, the OP, since many people new to building games come to this forum for the first time. It was the subsequent, out-of-the-ordinary stream that was a little weird.

@the other posters: Thanks for posting. Feel free to hang out here too. We get lots of questions on engines here...

[~LK~]

alphadog said:

Feel free to hang out here too. We get lots of questions on engines here...

DevMaster has been a virtual treasure trove of information for me over the years. I'd recommend it as well. :yes:

[Torqueuser]

Thanks Alphadog. I look forward to checking out more on these forums.

And to add more input to the OP I can say that one of the big advantages of Torque3D is 'the community'.

Even if something might not be clear or complete in the documentation one can always find help on the forums from not only other users - experienced programmers, scripters and artists - but the interaction with, and participation, of garagegames employees and associates, who are actually building the engine, is something I have not seen with any other game engine.

[Jaimi]

Like it has been noted, the documentation is not complete.

However, I believe you will find what is complete is heads and tails above what has been done before. There are video tutorials on Vimeo:

http://www.vimeo.com/6486859
http://www.vimeo.com/6486879
etc.

Talk a look at the beginners guide here:

http://docs.garagega...ue-3d/official/

Yes, it's not yet completed. But it's a heck of a lot more in depth than any previous documentation.

[naaier]

I have licenced a few engines, messed around with them, struggled.
I got tgea when it was at 1.7.0, and was baffled by the whole thing, couldnt make head or tail of anything, but with help from the very active community there, I started to learn how torque worked. then the anounced a new engine: T3D.
I debated whether to invest in it, or to get the C4 engine.
I made the right choice.
I got T3D.
it is on a par with any of the "uber engines" (I am talking about a game engine, used to make games, not a game made with a game engine)
if you keep that in mind, if you plan on making a game for distribution on the market,
GET THIS ENGINE!!!

and if you look at my joined date, youll see I am not a new member, but this is the first time I've had anything worth posting here!!

scratch

[xerves]

Nod, a forum posting about this forum posting popped up. Have visited here before, but haven't create an account. Good for everyone I guess.

Most of us are from the Torque side so I think you are going to get pretty solid reviews, but my suggestion is to look at Unity along with C4 as they are pretty much in the same class as T3D in regards to cost and graphical quality (C4 is a bit cheaper though)

T3D besides improving the graphic quality introduced a very much needed improvement to the toolset. Might check out some of the videos online to see what was added. If you do a lot of level design (which well someone has to do at some point) the price tag alone is worth the time saved compared to previous versions.

We moved over from using TGEA for the MMO we are designing and have been nothing but happy with the purchase and the progress made.

[Mickelonis]

Most of the "one post" users here actually own a license to T3D....

Here's the way I look at it bro... The T3D license costs $1,00 bucks, however I think there's a deal going on right now for $900.

To a lot of indie developers and hobbyists, that's a lot of coin. If the engine was not good, you would see people complaining about the betas demanding their money back. Bottom line is, you're not seeing that here.

I am VERY happy I purchased a license to T3D. It's a solid engine that offers a lot of 'out of the box' features.

My personal opinion is that there is no other "indie" engine that can compare.

The T3D forums are currently private for licensees only. However, I do believe I read somewhere that GG will open the forums (after T3D launches) up to the public so non-license holders can see what T3D's all about by people who currently use the product. That's unfortunate for people like you =(

Have you seen ANY bad reviews for T3D? (honest question, I could be missing something).

[alphadog]

Mickelonis said:

Most of the "one post" users here actually own a license to T3D...

That can be good or bad, or both. Experience matters, but from that comes bias...

Quote

My personal opinion is that there is no other "indie" engine that can compare.

There are. The OP should consider looking at C4, Esenthel, Unity, NeoaAxis and Panda3D. Those are all very good choices. Depending on the game being made, any engine will do, or the OP will have a real particular reason to pick one over the others.

[roboant]

alphadog said:

There are. The OP should consider looking at C4, Esenthel, Unity, NeoaAxis and Panda3D. Those are all very good choices. Depending on the game being made, any engine will do, or the OP will have a real particular reason to pick one over the others.

That is what I am doing. All other engines offer some demos actually, except Torque3D, that is the one of the reasons why I am asking for opinions.

[~LK~]

AlphaDog is right... We don't really know what your needs/desired attributes are in a game engine.

I have taken what AlphaDog suggested engine wise, and linked you to the corresponding information the best I could.

* - Note that I did not bother to repeat T3D's info since its fairly well represented in the above posts.

1) Esenthel

Features - http://www.esenthel.com/?id=features
Licensing - http://www.esenthel.com/?id=buy

2) Panda3D

Features - http://www.panda3d.org/features.php
Licensing - http://www.panda3d.org/license.php

3) C4

Features - http://www.terathon....ne/features.php
Licensing - http://www.terathon....e/licensing.php

4) Unity

Features - http://unity3d.com/unity/
Licensing - http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses

5) NeoAxis

Features - http://www.neoaxisgroup.com/neoaxis
Licensing - http://www.neoaxisgr...vices/licensing


- Make sure, if you haven't already.. look closely at all of the terms of use and license break down; ie what you get listed in the features pages depending on what License you might get (some have no source code or limited.. others won't let you change much of anything depending on the license). You might also want to check out the forums for each to see what current users are saying about each engine (make sure they are talking about the same one you are looking at and not and old version).

Out of these listed, here is the order I would personally place them in. Take it for what it's worth.

1) T3D
2) Unity
3) C4
4) Neoaxis
5) Esenthel
6) Panda3D

Best of luck to you in whatever you decide.

[alphadog]

I appreciate your opinion and time, so don't get me wrong on the following, LK.

There's some information missing in your ranking.

Why is T3D first and Panda3D last? Through what process did you come to that evaluation? What you weighed heavily may not matter to me.

Also, how far better is T3D, your first choice, than Panda3D, your last choice?

I think that's what people usually want to know when they ask "what engine should I use?". And that information is, quite frankly, impossible to get. I don't know of a single person who's used three or four of those six "front-runner" engines, more importantly used each engine enough to be able to really give a mostly objective, meat-and-potatoes compare on features, price and license impact, documentation and community.

[Mattias Gustavsson]

People who ask "What engine should I use" won't finish their game anyway. If they don't have the experience or patience to evaluate engines, they sure don't have the stamina to see a game to completion...